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The Effects of Grapefruits

According to the World's Healthiest Foods website, grapefruits help lower cholesterol and prevent kidney stones in addition to providing the body with several nutrients such vitamin C, vitamin B5 and potassium. However, grapefruits have also been shown to have negative effects on people who take certain medications for blood pressure or other problems. The Medicine Net website says that eating grapefruits can cause some levels of medications to go up which can result in toxic overdose side effects.

  1. Prevent Kidney Stones

    • Prepare your grapefruit juice in a juicer rather than buying store bought juice.

      A study conducted by the British Journal of Nutrition revealed that grapefruit can help prevent kidney stones. The study evaluated several juices including grapefruit, apple and orange juice. Women were advised to drink one-half to one liter of these juices daily throughout the year. The study indicated that participants' urinary pH value and citric acid excretion increased which lowered their risk of developing calcium kidney stones. The juice helped by changing the composition of urine which lowered stone formation.

    Boost Immune System

    • Grapefruits help boost the immune system by providing the body with vitamin C. This extra vitamin C can help prevent colds, flu and other immune system-related problems. Vitamin C helps by reducing the body's inflammatory response and by fighting free radical damage. Free radicals damage cells and tissues which can result in accelerated aging and sickness. Free radicals are unpaired molecules that can increase when you eat a poor diet, smoke or don't deal with stress properly. Everyone is exposed to free radicals, but you can fight this damage by eating certain foods such as grapefruits and living a healthy lifestyle.

    Medication Interaction

    • Grapefruits interact with a long list of medications such as statin drugs, antihistamines, immune suppressants, pain medications, impotence drugs and a long list of other medications. (See references below to view the entire list of medications). Talk to your doctor if you are taking any type of medications. Grapefruits can reduce or lessen the effects of the drug depending on when you eat the fruit and what type of medication you are taking. The juice can block enzymes in the wall of the small intestine which can break medications down faster. The enzymes in the small intestine are needed to slowly break down the medications and release the drug into the body. When this process is blocked more of the drug can get into the blood stream faster rather than breaking down slowly as it normally should. This can result in an accidental overdose.

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